The Pride of Being Selim Bradley
by TammyKing
Summary: Sometimes he's the perfect child. Sometimes he's the overprotective brother. Sometimes he's the loyal servant. Sometimes he's a sarcastic, arrogant kid. Sometimes he's Pride, and sometimes Selim Bradley. Sometimes you just can't choose how you were born and how you will die. The life of a confused Pride, trying to understand his empty 300 years of living.
1. Chapter 1: First Thoughts

**AU: Okay this is the first ever fanfic that i ever wrote, so I'm sorry for any mistakes, or crappy writing skills... My native language isn't English you know. So this story is basically about Pride's life, following the Brotherhood/Manga storyline, of how he became an older brother, how he felt about the many events in Amestris... So on. Ok back to story!**

Chapter 1: First Thoughts

The first thing I saw was a tall, looming man with blond hair. He was wearing a white robe, and was clearly in his mid-forties, even though his facial features were unclear under the dim surroundings. "Awaken, my son," he said, "Awaken, and be my loyal servant forever." His voice was dark and creepy, but I don't remember feeling scared. I don't know if I even _had_ any feelings then. The man- My _Father_, if I had been correct, continued saying things like "Philosopher's stone" and "Finding Amestris" and "Transmutation circle". My vision had been blurry and so was my mind back then, so I couldn't get about half of the things he had said. He had also mentioned that my name was 'Pride the Arrogant', the first homunculus, and what had happened after that is already buried so deep in my head that I can't find it anymore. So that, I guess, was the day I- A new life was born.

Not pretty memorable, but I should be proud.

The second memory I had was when I first looked at my body. I stared at the mirror and saw an eight-year-old boy, a bit short for his own age, with very dark brown, if not black, hair, and violet eyes. Father had said that it resembled a human child, which I would use to deceive those ignorant lower life forms, and help him with his plans till the 'Promised Day'. He then told me that I should be extremely grateful that he made me a near perfect container, and that I should obey whatever he says, and I should be proud of being a homunculus, and that he aimed to be God...

Today, I still don't know what he had said on that day. But I guess it's not very important, because none of that knowledge really came in use to me. I still feel bad though, because I hadn't listened to every word Father had said. 

Not much happened after I was born, but there was that time when Father had given me a mission.

I think I felt excited, or nervous, or simply _proud, _because it was the first mission Father had given me. The job was simple, even enjoyable, because all I had to do was to 'carve a blood red crest' in the nation west. That was easy, starting a war and making people kill each other, and killing some on my own just to kill time. Father told me to be careful, but I guess the humans were either too busy fighting or too dumb to notice anything special about me. I smirked when I thought about this, because I was Pride the Arrogant and I was supposed to feel proud for carving a blood crest so deep... Right? I guess so, because there wasn't anything else for me to feel.

I watched calmly as blood spilled, arrows shot, soldiers charged, women ran and children cried. Something set off in me at that time, which I never noticed, but now when I think about it, I think it was some kind of thought. Just a _thought_, not a feeling, as if feelings ever existed in me. I was thinking, _how are these people feeling? _Like how painful they were, or if they ever expected themselves to die like this, or if they regret being a soldier, or if they ever had a choice. It was kind of hard to think of, because I had never experienced it first hand. As I observed their ridiculous bloody faces in agony, I wondered if they had ever been happy before, because it seemed impossible to imagine a twisted face like that smiling, or even laughing, and I asked myself, _what is the point of laughing anyway? The whole idea of producing noise when you feel happy is stupid._ Then I remembered that I had to be proud and smirk, so I pulled myself away from my thoughts and smirked.

I stood in that alley for the whole day, still smirking and looking proud, while blankly staring at the blood and organs and gore, not feeling anything except disgust towards the humans.


	2. Chapter 2: Lust

**AU: So... I hope that you're content with chapter 1, because I'm quite new here. Thanks to the followers and favourites! :D Please R&amp;R!**

I think about 100 years has passed since I was born. If not, 101. Or 102. It doesn't matter because every day is the same: Waking, greeting Father, listening to Father's plans, obeying Father, being proud and arrogant, staring at my shadows, getting permission from Father to go out, staring at the clouds, killing some lowly humans for fun, and obeying Father...

Nothing worth noticing, but I've grown and improved.

Father taught me many things like the history of Xerxes and immortality and his plans and Truth, and I listened to every single word, while feeling very proud of him. I mean it, it might sound weird, but I'm very proud that I have a Father who loves me so much. Not like those _other_ _creatures_ which eat their own offspring. Or those humans who sell their daughters to be some man's wife. Or some woman, whom I knew from reading a human book called a 'Bible', that put her baby in a reed basket and abandoned him, leaving him to float away on a river and ending up as an Egyptain princess' plaything. No, not like that.

I also told Father what I thought about in Riviere, about the humans and happiness and laughing. He was so kind that he removed these thoughts from me. He said they were harmful. I don't remember how he did it, but I think it hurt a little, because when I returned to conciousness my head was throbbing and my vision was fuzzy. Father said I would be more like myself from that day on. I'm not sure what he means by 'be like myself', but I think it means being arrogant and proud and such. But the only one I socialize with is Father, and I can't be arrogant with him, so I just kept quiet unless he talked to me.

I made myself a little room in a space between some of the sewage pipes, big enough for me to sit in. It's much more neater than those so called 'houses' that humans build, which look disgusting with flowers and dogs and children sticking out of them.

I was starting to get impatient with my life when it happened. No, _she_ happened.

Father ignored me for a couple of days, always sitting on his throne and... _Making_ something? I didn't ask, because I shouldn't. All I have to do is obey. But one day he started mumbling to his hands and I was aware. Not really curious, but worried, I think. Father never mumbles to himself, don't mention his hands.

''Awaken," he said, "Awaken, my... and...loyal..."

At least that was what I made out from his mumbling. It sounded familiar, but I didn't know.

I think he must have known I was there, because he then said, "Pride, come," in a voice just loud enough for someone within 2 metres to hear. I walked out from the shadows to see Father... and a woman. She was beautiful, with long and wavy black hair, a low cut tight dress, black gloves reaching her elbows, and an ouroboros tattoo above her chest.

Her face was blank, and her eyes unfocused, and she obviously wasn't listening to what Father was explaining. Then it hit me. The deep voice, the man in robes, the dim light, "Pride the Arrogant", philosopher's stones... Yes, I knew.

That woman- _girl_\- was my sister.

Father talked about philosopher stones, and Amestris, and transmutation circles, and his plan, and Hohenheim, but she wasn't listening. She was looking at me. I stared back.

Something fluttered inside me. Maybe it was because a beautiful girl was staring at me, or maybe it was because of her eyes, which looked like mine. I have never looked closely at my eyes before, nor do I have any idea what they really look like, because I don't usually look into mirrors. But when I looked into her eyes, I knew they belonged to me. Or a part of me. Or I was in them. I don't know, but they seemed like my eyes, she seemed like myself, her philosopher's stone seemed like mine- something I should protect.

Then Father said, "Your name is Lust the Lascivious."

That was when I found my voice again and said, "Lust. I'm Pride the Arrogant, the first homunculus."

''I'm your older brother," I added.

She smiled.

**Yep... So TADA! Lust is born.**


	3. Chapter 3: The loyal and the rebellious

**Whoops so I guess I'm a bit late. Okay so I'm gonna make the pace faster coz I want Pride to meet the Bradleys soon. Actually just Mrs. Bradley but anyway!**

Chapter 3: The loyal and the rebellious

ooo

Today Father made another homunculus. I didn't know about him until he strode into my cozy little hideout and claimed it for himself. He just barged in when I was reading and declared, "Get out kiddo, ya ain't got no room now. This space belongs to me, and so do you." I felt shocked for half a second before I pinned him down with my shadows and tried to kill him. Well, torture, to be precise. I couldn't just let him die after how he'd humiliated me by calling me a 'kiddo', and totally ignoring the fact that I was Pride, the first homunculus. And he might be a human.

I didn't rest until Lust ran in and screamed, "Pride! Stop, he's your BROTHER!" It took me a few seconds to let the words sink in. Then I let go. Then I prayed that Father would never know about this. Then Father stepped in. Then my 'brother' yelled about how I 'planned to kill him and claim all of his belongings'. And I've never felt so embarrassed before.

From that moment on, I tried my best to distance myself from 'Greed'.

I never liked Greed. Like, I don't hate him, but I just don't want to be too close to him. I think he feels the same too. He has that kind of rebellious personality that really gets on my nerves, and he never listens to what Father says. It's like he thinks everything in the world should go his way, and he takes everything for granted, encluding Father's love for him. Whenever Father orders him to do something, he just makes up some kind of excuse and runs away. And then I will step out and teach him a lesson. And he never listens. Never. And that really hurts me. Not just my pride, but... Me.

Sometimes I wonder if I softened my tone and expressed my feelings to him, maybe he would listen to me. But every time I almost got there, I just couldn't bring myself to say it. Because that would mean lowering myself to his level. Acting like the 'caring and compassionate' humans. Giving up my pride as an elder brother. So I just went the hard way, you know, scolding him and stuff.

Sometimes, I wonder if Father had any problems like this. If he had a brother. Or a sister. Or a father. But then again, I have no right to question more about Father's past, because it's not relevant to anything that I should know.

And sometimes I just want to know the reason behind Greed's rebellious acts. I know he's not a bad son. Just rebellious. And I want to help him. And I know that this isn't anything my shadow powers can do. And sometimes, things get really, really hopeless.

So I decided to go out for a while.

ooo

There are many different exits in my home. All of them lead to Central city, but they come in different sizes and shapes. Most of them lead to deserted alleys where gangsters hang around, but some of them lead to the inside of old houses, and some lead to very unhygienic bars, and some of them are just sewage holes on the road big enough for a human child to crawl in. There's also one that requires climbing over a mass amount of sewage pipes, and if you don't get lost, you have to squeeze through a certain gap between two pipes to find the exit, which is also a very small hole. Father never acknowledges this exit, or maybe it's because he never uses them. But I often go to the city, so I know every single tunnel, every secret passage, where every exit leads to, and every single sewage pipe and how it twists and turns in and out of the dark, massive tunnels. The hole is located in the basement of an old warehouse, which is rumored to be haunted so no one ever goes near it. No one knows when the warehouse was built- people said that it just appeared out of nowhere one night. No one knows what had been in there. And no one knows that it is used by Pride, the first homunculus, as a connecting bridge to Central city, for more than a hundred years.

I hopped out of the hole in the basement, feeling the creaking of floorboards beneath my shoes, and climbed the stairs to the basement door. I guessed that was what humans called a 'haunted house'- with squeaking hinges and spiderwebs loosely hanging from the dusty ceiling and occasional hisses from a stray cat. And of course, the dark. But that was what made me feel safe. I guess that's one thing that sets humans from homunculi apart. Humans, so cowardly and ignorant.

As I slowly walked towards the giant warehouse door, more and more light began to enter my eyes. I pushed open the door, carefully, slowly, only opening a small gap enough for me to slip out. I squinted my eyes, trying to adjust them to the light. Although my weakness is complete darkness, I'm not too keen on very bright light either.

I stepped out into the open. The grass beneath me was sparse and brown and thin, but it didn't matter. I didn't leave the lair for very green grass, anyway. There weren't any humans around, just the quiet chirping of crickets, and one or two birds soaring across the clouds. I stuck my foot into a crack in the outer walls of the warehouse, and searched for another with my hands, then lifted myself up. I continued climbing the tattered walls of the warehouse until I reached the roof, then I pushed with both hands until my upper torso was completely lying flat against the wooden roof, and I allowed my legs to move up too.

After I reached the very top of the roof, I sat there and stared at the sky. I'd climbed up to the roof within a minute, because I've done this for the millionth time- something I am really proud of. I didn't really focus on looking at things, or think about anything. There wasn't any purpose, I just wanted to observe things without thinking too much. And sitting on the roof was one of my favorite things. It made me feel on top of the world, above all of the living creatures, with the wind brushing against my face, and using the container Father had made for me to do what normal humans couldn't... It just felt good. Not necessarily _happy_, but it was a decent feeling.

I figured out that if I stayed too long with Greed, I would just lose my temper and throw myself into humiliation in front of Father. I didn't want to think that I have failed my job as an older brother. I didn't want to admit to myself that I couldn't train my little brother. My name was Pride, after all.

So I just stared at the sky and the birds. Some day, I would be able to do this whenever I want. I just have to wait for the Promised Day. Then I could take Father and Lust (and Greed) out here and be on top of the world, not ever having to hide underground anymore. Someday we could enjoy ourselves together.

As a family.

I look forward to the Promised Day. The day that I can keep my promise to my family.

ooo

**This took me a while, but I hope you guys would review because it means a lot to me. I hope I can make the story better. Thanks to all the followers again!**


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